A Double Edged Sword
by lennapie
Summary: A woman with a mysterious past involving Stormhold Palace is rather unexpectedly and unwillingly reunited with the Palace and its occupants. SeptimusOC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Stardust or any of its characters.

So… this is my first Stardust fanfic :) There aren't all that many SeptimusOC fics out there so I thought I'd take a stab at it! This is probably AU and I think it's probably set a few years before the film. I've tried to keep Septimus is character but he's so hard to write! Please review,

_Lennapie_

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Laina pulled idly at a thread on the sleeve of her shirt as she sat behind the market stall in a state of near comatose boredom. The people of Stormhold showed little curiosity in her makeshift stall with its interesting but useless items. A mixture of artefacts from across the wall, magic items that were guaranteed to make your hair grow, badly made bread and socks adorned the table with little success.

Her sea coloured eyes sought out interesting faces from the crowd and Laina created whole worlds around them. _A pig-farmer become rich merchant_, she thought watching a man in fine clothes but an unfortunately gormless face and seemingly bad hygiene. Laina sighed and jiggled on the stool she balanced on unhappily.

Suddenly, her eyes caught a flash of colour and she found its source. The royal insignia. It was sewed into a squire's jacket and her keen eyes observed it with a little wistfulness and a little anger. She was suddenly aware of the uncomfortable stool and the wind biting through the thin cloak, reminding her of who she was.

Brushing a lock of auburn hair out of her eyes she returned to pulling at the thread on her sleeve. Her father would have been embarrassed to see her sat in the middle of a market with everything she owned within a metre (or so) of her. She pushed her thoughts away swiftly when someone approached the stall.

Laina's eyes lit up and she smiled brightly at the figure, her whole face lighting up and transforming. "Can I help you… sir?" she asked squinting from the sun, trying to make out the figure. A cloud passed across the blinding sun and the squire came into focus. He didn't answer but stood there, silently, staring.

Laina sighed in annoyance, she had for a moment hoped that she would make a sale for the first time in two weeks. After asking him again with no avail, she set about pulling at the thread again and ignoring him. _Perhaps he has been bewitched_, she thought sympathetically.

"Squire!" barked a voice that caused even Laina to jump. She looked up in alarm to see a dark figure striding towards her; the sun burned her eyes as she strained to a put a face to the commanding voice. "Squire!" the voice commanded again but the squire did not move and continued to stare.

The figure came into view but was silhouetted against the bright morning sun. He hit the squire who continued to stare. "Woman! Have you bewitched him?" the silhouette demanded. "By the stars! I am no witch!" Laina cried,

"Then explain to me why this boy does not respond!"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not educated – I sell things at a market!" Laina lied. Her father swam before her eyes, shaking his head in shame at her denial of her education that he had spent years giving her.

"Answer me properly, woman!" the figure growled, slamming his hand onto the stall, causing a sock to fly off the floor into a puddle. Laina swore and bent down to pick up the ruined sock and hold it up. "You have to pay for this now! I can't believe y-y –" she stopped in mid sentence her mouth agape as she stared at the man who faced her.

His dark hair hung over his forehead, damp from the recent rainfall and his features were strong and dark. The dark clothes, the commanding frown but most of all the eyes gave him away. His eyes were as black as coal and as cold as the wind that lashed at her face. He was undeniably the seventh son of Stormhold, a prince.

Laina's face showed her unguarded shock and he gave a little, sadistic twitch of his lips. "Do go on…" he spoke dangerously, his eyes burning into hers, a dark storm meeting a calm sea. She shook her head, little tears prickling at the back of her eyes. _How cruel fate is!_ Laina cried inside thinking just how unlikely the meeting was.

"Do you know who I am?" He inquired, she did not move, "I am Prince Septimus and you are going to answer me." Laina swallowed, she wished he had given her another answer; she wished that she had made a fool of herself. She had not wanted him to confirm her fears. "Why does my squire not move?" he commanded,

"I don't know!" she ejected suddenly and violently. Septimus' eyes flashed,

"You have made a mistake! I have put your insolence down to ignorance of my title but now you are aware and are still disrespectful. If you do not tell me what you did to my squire now, then I will take you with me and lock you up for your rudeness!"

Laina shook her head, her voice lost in shock and unhappiness. The overwhelming emotions she had suppressed erupted from within her and Laina flooded with awareness of herself. Septimus reached across and grabbed her by the arm, wrenching her around the table and shouting at her but she did not feel or hear him. Anger at the unfairness of the situation raged within her and evermore strongly was the sadness for her situation, her father, her weakness and now her likely, impending death.

She broke. "Get off me! Get off me! Unhand me you troll!" she shouted over him, thrashing around. The muddy sock still clasped in her hand came into contact with the prince's face and he wrenched her to the ground. "You will be silent!"

"No I won't!" she cried. What more could he do to her?

"Silence!" his roar caused more people to turn and watch,

"No!"

"You will not see the light of day again unless if it is as you walk to the torture chamber or the gallows!"

"I don't care! Do what you like! Your father has done enough to my family already, it seems only natural that you should carry on our suffering!" She shouted, her voice growing hoarse and tears beginning to stain her cheeks.

The squire seemed to have regained himself and after Septimus snarled an order at him he raced off. The prince grasped Laina's wrist and dragged her away through the market screaming and cursing everything associated with the monarchy she could bring to mind. Within a few moments she had her hands bound, was gagged and was riding towards Stormhold Palace.

The horse threw her around and Laina felt the tired, burning sensation flare all over her skin. The fever was returning. The scent of spices and earth smothered her and she shivered. _He still uses the same soap_, she thought deliriously, melting backward into his broad chest. Flashes of fragmented memory and dream melted and twisted their way across her mind before the world drained away into blackness.


	2. Knife's Edge

The weather front had swooped in fast and rain thundered down around them as the horse slipped over the muddy path. Laina groaned groggily into the gag, the freezing cold gripping her like the harsh bonds that restrained her hands. She had almost forgotten where she was and who she was with until a rough voice spoke into her ear.

"We shall stop at the next inn," there was a pause and his balmy breath warmed the back of her neck. "You will be fed," Septimus spoke again and Laina wondered if there was a hint of kindness behind his abrupt statements. "I do not want you to die before I have the chance to enjoy your suffering a little more. You will sleep in the stables," he finished, dashing all Laina's hopes of being forgiven with a profuse apology for her rudeness. She shivered more from his words than from the cold.

Unable to stand Laina crumpled onto the cold flagstone floor the moment she felt the warmth of the fire and shelter from the rain, she enjoyed it while she could. In and out of conscious she only heard snippets of conversation: "My lord you cannot –" "We do not permit humans to sleep in the stables –"

"She is a prisoner!"

"That is your responsibility –" "Chain her."

Laina felt a strong hand grasp her collar and pull her to her feet. "I am displeased as you will _very_ soon discover. You will be kept in my quarters. If you resist I will kill you," Septimus growled throwing her forwards towards the stairs. Laina cried out into the gag as she fell flat onto her face and cracked her head on the stone floor.

"I have cleared a cell for her at the palace, my lord,"

"Good,"

"What will you have me do next?"

"Ride and tell the housekeeper that after learning to hold her tongue – if she still has it – he will be receiving a new addition to his staff." Laina listened intently; her heart throbbed against her chest as she listened to the words that flowed from the prince's mouth. He intended to torture her and then employ her? Was this part of his torture? Was she to become his personal amusement? The door slammed shut.

Footsteps thudded past her and she pretended to still be unconscious. "I know you're awake – don't you think you've done enough lying today?" Septimus growled at her, Laina opened her eyes and squinted up at him. He was sat on the bed removing his boots, his dark straggly hair tumbling over his face and his broad shoulders hunched from the long ride. "I told you earlier, I wasn't lying!"

"I warned you," he said calmly, "If you resist, and that includes verbally, I will kill you. I do not need you in anyway, I am merely keeping you alive to amuse myself," he finished coldly. Laina exhaled unhappily and propped herself up on her elbows shakily.

"You've chained me up!" Laina cried suddenly, waving her arm at him with the chain around her wrist clanking. "You are a prisoner,"

"I'm not going to escape in this weather! Am I?" She spat giving him an incredulous look. He shrugged and stalked across to the other side of the room. "So what about this food?" Laina asked with a sigh. He picked up a plate and a mug and placed them in front of her. "Bread and water?" she asked in horror,

"Ungrateful wench!"

"Too right I'm ungrateful! You expect me to survive on _bread and water_?" In a flash he had a small knife held to her sensitive neck.

Laina gasped and recoiled, only to meeting the wall behind her. Septimus applied a little more pressure on the knife, a small, red droplet formed around the tip of the blade and he smirked. "Give me a reason as to why I should spare your life?" he breathed, dark eyes dangerously alight as the power over her life danced across them like a shadowy jewel. He was in control and she could feel his pleasure at her fear as though it were her own.

She wanted to look away from the intensity of his gaze but she couldn't. The black ice was forcing its way across the sea contained in her watering orbs. The darkness of his eyes was so familiar and it twisted her so painfully inside that she could barely bring herself to draw breath. Laina thought of her family, the laughter, the security and then how it had all been ripped away by one man's possessive nature. His desire. His single-minded, selfish soul. She had nothing left because of that man.

"I cannot think of a reason…" she whispered in reply. The sea broke against the inside of her eye and one droplet rushed down her ivory cheek and onto her neck. The blood and water entwined in an embrace; her blood and her tears were well acquainted with each other. Septimus' face was unmoving but as she allowed her eyes to avert his Laina could have sworn she saw a flicker of pity.

He removed his knife from her neck and stood up suddenly, twisting and turning his back to her. _What is he thinking_? She wondered as she watched him with his head bowed. "I have spared your life. Just this once. You are ignorant," he said quietly before turning on his heel and facing her again. "We have an early start and I suggest you get some sleep. At least do not disturb me," he commanded and blew out the candles.

As Laina's eyes adjusted to the blackness she could see her captor moving in the dark as though it were still light. She blinked. She wanted to look away and her eyes were glued to the man as he removed the black shirt neatly and fluidly. As he climbed into the bed she watched white flesh of his back and blushed furiously. _Laina!_ She scolded herself,_ He is a terrible man! _She paused. _But he is still a man…_she concluded.

Time dragged but after much fidgeting Laina settled, curled into a ball on the cold floor. As she stopped moving she heard the rhythmic breathing and gentle snoring from the bed that lay on the other side of the room. _Yes, he is a man_, she thought almost in amusement at the very human sounds the seemingly inhuman prince made as he slept.

"He _is_ just a man but he is _still_ my sworn enemy…" she breathed sleepily as she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

_**Author's Note**__: Well that was chapter two :) Review! Lennapie _


	3. Speech

_1… 2… 3, 4… 5…_Laina counted the dead rabbits by the side of the track and reaching some morbid amusement inside herself. The rain had cleared over night and the sun had broken through sending spirals of pale light down. Caught up in her newfound game and the pleasantness of the morning, Laina could have forgotten about her presumably horrific fate and the cruel man sat behind her. That is, she could have forgotten about it if her hands were not bound and she did not have a gag in her mouth. She wondered how she could get the Prince to remove her gag and then an idea suddenly occurred to her.

Laina waited for the horse to slow to a trot and then she started to gurgle and gasp for breath. With the Prince still not reacting she slid off the side of the black horse and to the floor with a hefty thump, all the while still choking. She gave a silent whoop of triumph as the horse halted and Septimus jumped to the floor. Laina had expected him to watch her pretend to die but instead he knelt down and untied the wad of material from her mouth.

A sweet relief of fresh air rushed in, a welcome change from the saliva soaked rag. Their eyes met, his cruel darkness staring harshly into her lighter green-greyness, it was almost a moment on tenderness. She held the gaze and for a second thought that deep within the cold blackness of his piercing look she saw recognition and half concern. Laina suddenly turned her head and hacked up a ball of spit onto the floor. Septimus recoiled and stood up suddenly spitting disdainfully, "If you wish to work on the housekeeping staff you will have to work on your manners! Disgusting wench!"

"I do not _want_ to work in your family's household!"

"You have no choice! I command it!" His voice raised, eyes narrowing down at her.

"Why keep me alive?"

"Hold your tongue! If you are not silent I will bind your mouth again!"

Laina frowned. The inevitability of her fate that seemed worse than the initial threat of death. Septimus dragged her back onto the horse and she continued her game of rabbit-counting, only with the victorious taste of fresh, cool air rushing past her lips.

"We will stop here." Septimus' voice was deadpan as he dropped from the horse to set up a tent.

"Oh!" Laina said in mock surprise, "Are you not going to help me down? You have bound my hands after all!" Sarcasm dripped from her every syllable. Septimus whipped round, "Roll off the horse for all I care."

So she did.

Laina landed in an ungracefully, wriggling mess as she attempted to struggle to her feet, only managing to roll further along the muddy, sludgy ground. Finally her knees connected with a squelch and she staggered to her feet. "Sit down!" Shouted Septimus a few metres away, grappling with canvas sheets and metal tent pegs. The clouds rolled in from the west with a rumble of thunder and fat splattering rain splashed against Laina's face and exposed wrists.

Laina sat in the mud and watched the Prince assemble the tent. He was not classically handsome with his hooked nose, deep set eyes and frown perpetually carved into his face but she observed that there was something strangely attractive about him. _If it was not for his foul disposition_, she thought bitterly with the rope rubbing sorely against her wrists. "Get inside." He growled striding over, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her into the tent. Laina toppled in and smelt the stale canvas stained with the stench of old wood fires.

Once settled inside the relative dryness of the tent with the light of a candle lamp flickering around, Laina waited for the Prince to speak. She knew he would not but still she waited. Eventually she glanced at him, he was cleaning blood off the blade of his sword. "Why did you remove the cloth from my mouth, sir?"

"Your death would be an end to my amusement."

"Why were you at the market?"

"My business is no concern of anyone else's."

Silence.

"I did not bewitch your squire."

"You have no evidence otherwise. Convince me," he spoke dangerously, looking up with a precarious fire in his darkness.

"How can I convince you when I am no witch?" Laina retorted, swallowing down her anger at his accusations. Septimus paused.

"You have logic for a woman. Have you education?" The Prince made sudden eye contact.

"No."

"You lie. I can see it."

"You are a truthseer?" Laina asked incredulously, her eyes widening,

"It is the magic of Stormhold."

"Oh."

"Who was your tutor? Few will teach a girl – especially one so _low-born_ as yourself," Septimus said snidely.

Tears threatened to creep into Laina's eyes at the thought of her father. The thoughts of –

_**Curling ivy leaves creeping up the grand stone walls of the gardens… the castle… endless staircases… summer rose… a grand clock… being chased… chess games… roaring fires… the jewellers… the ring fitting – **_

"Answer me!" Septimus demanded.

"I do not want to talk about it anymore. I am too tired." Laina spoke. It was the truth she was tired, however that was not the reason for her abrupt end to the conversation.

Septimus grunted in reply and continued to clean the blade. Laina lay down on her side and pressed as close and she could to the canvas, feeling the coldness and the dampness against her cheek. A tear rolled down her cheek and stuck to the tent.

The candle was blown out and there was silence.

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_**Author's Note - **Chapter 3, at last! Sorry it took so long to update. Review :)_


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